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Rules
Rules Resources A quick summary of the rules that will and will not be used in the game. * GURPS Characters ** Characters will be allowed to purchase techniques * GURPS Campaigns ** Change! Delvers and boss monsters can use Extra Effort in combat. * GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: Adventurers ** Wildcard skills can be used as a player option; the GM is not requiring them. If you use them, you're responsible for knowing the rules for them. * GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: Dungeons * GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: The Next Level ** Psionics will not used unless a player really, really wants them * GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: Sages and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: Allies * GURPS Fantasy ** The Named Item Perk is available, but see the Signature Gear rules below. * GURPS Magic ** Magic will conform to the rules from Dungeon Fantasy and will not use other optional systems beyond the house rules below. * GURPS Martial Arts ** Style perks are allowed, and PCs can create their own styles with GM approval. PCs are limited to 1 Combat perk per 20 points in combat skills, as well as 1 Combat Perk from their style(s) per 10 points in combat skills. ** The Expanded Combat Maneuvers and Additional Combat Options will be in use. Tournament Combat and the new Injury and Recover rules will not be used. *** Harsh Realism for Unarmed Fighters will not be in use, nor will the position penalties for Fast-Draw. *** Cinematic Combat rules clarifications will be in use, but not Chambara fighting. *** All new Extra Effort in combat are allowed. ** New cinematic techniques are allowed for Martial Artists and some others *** Martial Artists can take any cinematic technique. *** Scouts with Weapon Master (Bow) may take Dual-Arrow Attack *** Swashbucklers may take Dual-Weapon Attack, Dual-Weapon Defense, Flying Lunge, Grand Disarm and Whirlwind Attack *** Other templates may not take cinematic techniques * GURPS Powers ** New abilities will need GM approval * GURPS Thaumatology ** No new rules or options are allowed at this time * GURPS Power-Ups ** Imbuements are an option for Martial Artists (and Trained by a Master is treated as Imbuement 2). ** New Perks introduced in Perks can be used within reason. No high technology Perks are allowed, for example. Character Creation Original characters can have up 275 points and 60 points of Disadvantages (not including quirks or disadvantages in racial templates). All characters must choose a Template from DF: Adventurers and may choose a race or lens from DF: The Next Level. Human characters that do not take a lens may choose up to 25 points of Power-ups from DF: The Next Level. All characters can take Wealth: Struggling, Wealth: Poor, or Wealth: Dead Broke, even if it is not listed on their template. Other disadvantages not on a template must be approved by the GM, who is lenient about that kind of stuff. All characters know their personal native tongue fluently. They also know the Trade Tongue at Accented at no point charge. Most creatures encountered during a delve will speak the Trade Tongue at Broken or better. Characters can purchase Fluent ability in the Trade Tongue, but there's really no point to doing so. Any character may take 1 or more Perk: Signature Attack. Each Signature Attack gives +1 on all rolls for a specific Maneuver, Attack Option, and Hit Location combination. An example would Signature Attack: Committed (Determined) with Rapid Strike, the first attack to the torso with Deceptive Attack -1, the second a Telegraphed strike to the neck. Changing Characters After a delve is completed, a player may choose a new character. Earned Character points are transferred to the new character, along with 80% of the previous character's share of the wealth gained from the delve. It is not generally acceptable to change characters except at the end of a delve or after the very first session of a new delve. Replacing a Dead Character If a PC is killed and not brought back to life during a delve, the player must create a new character. Earned character points are transferred to the new character, along with a -5 CP penalty for dying. Wealth will need to be worked out with the GM, but generally 50-75% of earned wealth will be retained. The replacement character will be added to party at a time and manner of the GM's convenience. Characters for Replacement Players A player who replaces a previous player starts with a 275 point character, as described above. After creation, the character will be given 20 CP and $7500 per delve the original party has completed. Rules Clarifications Quick Reference Table of Combat Maneuvers, Attack Options, Active Defenses, Retreats, and Grapples Controversial rules and rules clarifications will be documented here. Character Creation To simplify starting play, the "Getting Stuff Cheap" rules from DF: Dungeons are not going to require any rolls before the first delve. PCs can use Filch, Scrounging, Armoury, Alchemy, Poisons, or Herbal Lore once for every skill level above 11. PCs can Merchant or Streetwise to Haggle once for every skill level above 14. PCs cannot use the "Scoring Extra Cash" rules before the first delve. A single suit of relatively homogeneous armor counts as a single item for Power Item purposes. Relatively homogeneous means the torso and limbs are made from the same material with the same qualities, but the head and extremities can be armored differently. Signature Gear and Named Items are allowed, but have some pretty significant house rules. Armor enchantments (Lighten, Fortify, etc) do not stack, but a single enchantment covers all the armor a character wears. So having "Lighten" enchanted into a cloth cap reduces the weight of any other armor worn with it by 25%, while having DR+1 cast on a pair of gloves adds 1 to the DR on all body locations. However, there is no cost reduction for enchanting only part of a suit of armor: it costs 50 energy points to add +1 DR to a pair of leather gloves, a heavy plate corselet, or a cloth cap. Separate layers of armor need to have separate enchantments (note that Fortify and Deflect do not stack in multiple castings) and shields are always considered separate layers. In Play PCs can pay people to cast spells on them while in town, though this is only useful for Healing spells or spells that have durations of longer than a day. Town spell casting Prices depend on the difficulty and cost of the spell. Characters with True Faith (Turning) can repel ordinary corporeal and insubstantial undead at no penalty. Attempting to Turn corporeal demons (as-Sharak, Doomchildren, Peshkali, etc) requires a roll at a -3 penalty. Attempting to Turn insubstantial demons (Toxifiers, etc) requires a roll at a -1 penalty. It is not possible to Turn Elder Things or Half-Spirits. Characters who have the Cloak skill and intend to use a cloak defensively (either to Block or to gain any DB bonus) have to Ready the cloak by removing it and wrapping it around their arm. That limb is now being used to wield the cloak and cannot be used to hold anything else. (Yes, I know this hasn't come up, but there's someone arguing this on the SJ Games forum and its pissing me off). Sense of Duty: Nature should be treated as Pacifism (Self Defense Only), Pacifism (Cannot Harm Innocents), and Charitable toward all Animals, Giant Animals, Dire Animals, and Plants (including mobile ones like Crushrooms or Treants). Herbivores are considered Innocents for purposes of Cannot Harm Innocents. There is no requirement to treat dead animals or plants with any particular respect. Character Point Awards Characters will receive 1 character point for overcoming a challenge such as a monster attack or a difficult trap. Extra points will be awarded for particularly difficult challenges, such as large numbers of enemies or fighting in unfair circumstances. Some challenges will not be worth any points, such as fighting only a few weak enemies. Points will be deducted if anyone in the group dies. At the end of each delve, additional points will be rewarded for returning to Polisberg. Bonus points depend on having enough food to complete the return journey, clearing out the entire delve site, finding hidden rooms, recovering quest items, recovering enough treasure to fund further expeditions, and not having party members die. 0-3 extra points will be awarded for good role-playing on an individual basis. House Rules I'll try to limit the number of house rules and encourage ones that make PCs more useful. The Ultimate Appeal Mark Langsdorf is the final appeal on all rules decisions. Player can refer rules questions to Dr. Kromm or the GURPS forums in general. Any guidance received is advisory only and is not binding on the GM. In general, the GM will follow advice from Dr. Kromm, but he reserves the right to disagree. All disagreements will be noted as House Rules or Rules Clarifications, as appropriate. Character Creation House Rules Magic & Casting House Rules In Town House Rules Trained by a Master House Rules Combat House Rules Lack of Knowledge Isn't Power By the standard Dungeon Fantasy rules, only learned characters have Hidden Lore, Carousing, or Current Events, and therefore only learned characters can critically fail these important skill rolls and thereby generate false information. This effectively makes the learned characters into potential idiots, while uneducated people never say anything stupid about a monster's weaknesses. All PCs must roll against Hidden Lore, Carousing, and Current Events to learn a monster's weakness or gather rumors. Hidden Lore rolls default to IQ-8 for this purpose. Failure generates no information and critical failures generate false information. Successes and critical successes generate information as usual. Jumping Untrained DF:2 bases distances jumped on Jumping skill, which lacks a default. For the purposes of the distance calculation, unskilled Delvers have a default Jumping skill of DX-2. Provocation Being provoked into making a self control roll multiple times in a single round wears away at a delvers self control. Each additional check is at a cumulative -2 penalty. Play Style Advice on play style. ;Expectations for personal interaction ;Expectations for adventure design ;Criteria for selecting players Category:Saga of Westmarch